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Originally Posted by BigRedBeta
I'd be VERY careful about what you declare as "optimal" treatment. You're not his physician, you don't have access to his medical records.
Here's the thing folks: Pancreatic Cancer is VERY, VERY bad. Absolutely this is due to the fact that it rarely is caught early. Sometimes the only presenting symptoms are decreased appetite, vague abdominal pain and depression - certainly not things that scream cancer. The mortality associated with pancreatic cancer is not due to it being a particularly aggressive cancer, quite the opposite, if it progressed faster it might give more symptoms and be caught sooner. It's really a very silent killer.
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No I don't have access to his records, and I am NOT his doctor. We were discussing the nature of Pancreatic Cancer and the generalized *average* prognosis for those with the disease.
I only know the mountains of information that I have read over the last 8 months following my sister's diagnosis with PC. The optimal treatment *is* as developed at MD Anderson in Houston TX for all pancreatic types that are treatable with or without surgery -- radiation concurrent with gemzar chemotherapy. Whipple procedure ONLY as indicated based on tumor size, location and arterial involvment.
Pancreatic Cancer generally affects individuals who are 55 or older (my sister was 45), and they typically have had the disease at least 1.5 to 2 years before it is discovered. A standardized blood test has been developed. It is the Ca-19-9 marker (anything above a 35 is considered "postive"). Just like with ovarian cancer (Ca-125 marker), regular blood tests for individuals who have a familial relation who has had pancreatic cancer are in order. I had my level done immediately upon her drs recommendation.
My sister's tumor was found *incredibly* early (< then 5 months based on a body scan she had had in Feb 07), she was very young to have PC and she was in excellent health otherwise. The pathology showed her tumor to be a T1-N0-M0 as good as you could possible pray for with PC. She is by no means completely out of the woods, as she must have quarterly blood tests and CT scans for the next two years and forever with semi-annual blood tests and CT scans.